In his words: North Side boy's basketball coach Shabaz Khaliq

More Information

ONLINE

For more on prep basketball, follow The News-Sentinel.com crew via Twitter at PrepHoops_ns.

Mid-season adjustments result in title

News-Sentinel staff report

Saturday, February 2, 2013 - 1:55 am

On what the SAC title means:

It says a lot hopefully on the direction of where we are trying to go as a program. Play hard, regardless of the situation and never give up on ourselves or our season.

On his team’s coming of age:

We had to address not just our play on the basketball court, but also our behavior and our attitude. Out kids have bought into it and we have finally developed some senior leadership.

Comparing his team to others:

I talk to our kids about the Snider team from 2009, the last SAC team to get to the state finals. The thing about that group is not only were they good basketball players, but they had a seniors in the top 10 of their class academically. That is what I want our program to be like.

On learning from last year:

Our group of sophomores got a lot of playing time last year. We lost to Northrop on a last-second shot, Luers on a last-second shot, Concordia on a last-second shot. We could not close and seal the deal. This year, we are down nine against Northrop and battle back, we fought through foul trouble tonight. You have to have the belief in one another to do your job, and we are buying into that.